Introducing a New Guest Author

Tomorrow, a new guest author will be making her debut on Daylight Atheism. I’m particularly proud of being able to feature her work here, and once I’ve introduced her, I hope you’ll see why.

I first heard of Sarah Braasch through the Freedom from Religion Foundation, where she worked as a legal intern, after coming across two outstanding essays of hers in Freethought Today: The Real Religious Terrorism, about her upbringing as a Jehovah’s Witness and how she broke away, and Moroccan Feminine Wiles, about the horrendous misogyny she encountered while spending a summer abroad in Morocco.

In April, I met Sarah in person while attending a luncheon in New York City organized by the FFRF. I invited her to post a guest essay on Daylight Atheism, if she ever wanted to do so – and she graciously agreed!

Sarah Braasch spent her childhood in the Upper Midwest. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with two summa cum laude engineering degrees. After a successful career in the boutique hotel industry in Los Angeles and Miami Beach, Sarah decided to attend law school and become a human and civil rights advocate. She has recently graduated from Fordham Law School in New York City. While in law school, Sarah interned with the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights in Rabat, Morocco, participated in Fordham’s International Human Rights Clinic in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and attended the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, for a semester. Additionally, Sarah was an intern with the United Nations Development Programme, as well as the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Madison, Wisconsin. Sarah has been awarded the James E. Tolan Fellowship from the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice at Fordham Law School and will be spending the 2009-2010 academic year as a postgraduate fellow with Ni Putes Ni Soumises (NPNS) in Paris, France. NPNS is a women’s rights organization whose aims are to fight gender discrimination and violence by promoting separation of church and state, equality, and gender desegregation.

Her first post on Daylight Atheism, “Mystery Does Not Equal God”, will make its debut tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Moroccan Feminine Wiles- I have always prided myself on respecting the customs and cultures of other countries when travelling. I have always thought if I travelled to a muslim country I would wear a head scarf. However looking at Sarah’s reasons for not wearing one I have to reconsider my reasoning. Do all cultures and customs deserve equal respect? I think maybe not. Not when they serve to degrade and cause harm and keep women downtrodden and subservient. Also, if I am honest with myself, the greater part of my reasoning would be to avoid unwanted attention.

I appreciate the personal nature of the posts so I look forward to what is to come. Welcome!

Adam Lee of Daylight Atheism

Adam Lee is an atheist writer and speaker living in New York City. He created Daylight Atheism to push back against undeserved privileging of religion and to encourage atheists to step out of their closets, into the daylight, and take our rightful place at the table of society’s discourse.